JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Pentagon Has Prepared a Cyberattack Against Russia; U.S. military hackers have been given the go-ahead to gain access to Russian cybersystems as part of potential retaliation for any meddling in America’s elections.” – Center for Public Integrity/ Zachary Fryer-Biggs/ The Daily Beast

Aerial Photo of Pentagon and Environs

“The U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon have quietly agreed on the outlines of an offensive cyberattack … if Russia electronically interferes with the 2018 midterm election [according to unnamed officials] …. U.S. military hackers have been given the go-ahead to gain access to Russian cybersystems … needed to let the plan unfold quickly …. one of the first major cyberbattle plans … under a new government policy enabling potential offensive operations to proceed more quickly once the parameters have been Multilingual Polling Place Sign from U.S. Election Polling Placeworked out in advance and agreed [upon] among key agencies. * * * … [S]ome pathways stockpiled by [NSA] were collected by a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, which released them publicly beginning in 2016. One of those vulnerabilities served as the backbone of the WannaCry attack, which the Trump administration publicly blamed on North Korean hackers, and which eventually spread to 300,000 computers in 150 countries in 2017. U.S. officials have never publicly claimed responsibility for the use of cyber File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Codeweapons, although reports have tied U.S. government hackers to disruption of North Korea and Iran’s nuclear programs.”

Click here for: “The Pentagon Has Prepared a Cyberattack Against Russia; U.S. military hackers have been given the go-ahead to gain access to Russian cybersystems as part of potential retaliation for any meddling in America’s elections.” – The Daily Beast/Zachary Fryer-Biggs/Center for Public Integrity

 

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